1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animatable toy characters and particularly to soft stuffed toy characters with manually animatable features.
2. Background Art
Soft dolls, animals and characters are popular playthings, particularly for younger children. Basic play with such toys involves considerable carrying and cuddling of the toy by the child. In addition, animatable features of soft dolls, animals and characters enhance their play value. Thus, for example, Katzman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,063 issued Dec. 8, 1981 and Terzian U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,742 issued Apr. 28, 1981 disclose soft stuffed dolls having animated facial features, including a moveable tongue in the Katzman et al. doll, that respond to pressure upon the abdomen area of the doll. In Morrison U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,855 issued May 5, 1987, an animated, pop-up crib toy is driven upwardly to extend the flexible neck of the character by a motor and mechanism housed in a box mounted on the edge of a crib. Katzman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,400 issued Aug. 24, 1982 shows a plush piggy bank with facial features that are animated by a mechanism actuated by depositing a coin into the bank. In the action game of Rehkemper et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,682 issued Nov. 1, 1983, enjoyment of the game is enhanced by insertion of manually manipulatable members in the flexible arms of a character so that the arms of the character are animated as the game is played. Nevertheless, there remains a need for soft dolls, animals or characters having features that may be manually animated by a child, particularly as the child holds or cuddles the character close to the child's body. There also remains a need for such a soft character in combination with a device to facilitate the child's carrying of the soft character while being able to manually animate features of the character.